1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to manufacturing and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for creating tools. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for creating tools for use in manufacturing aerospace parts.
2. Background
A need for spare parts and/or modifications to parts may occur during manufacture, assembly, maintenance, modifications, and/or upgrades to aircraft. Tools used to make these parts may be missing and/or difficult to find. As a result, on many occasions, tools may be remanufactured by an aircraft manufacturer to produce the needed parts. This type of process may require time and expense. Further, the number of parts needed may be low, as compared to the cost for manufacturing the tool for the parts.
The manufacturing and/or modification of parts also may occur during the design and/or testing of new aircraft. For example, without limitation, revisions and/or other changes to parts may occur even before an aircraft is delivered to a customer. Also, during the manufacturing of aircraft, selected parts may change and may need to be replaced on new aircraft and/or existing aircraft.
Changes to these parts may require the creation of tools. This tooling may be performed for new aircraft, existing aircraft, and/or legacy aircraft. The creation of tools for changes to parts during this type of design process may require time and expense. Lead times are often needed to allow suppliers of tools to manufacture and create the tools from the designs. As a result, the time and expense needed to design and complete an aircraft may increase. In addition, the lead times for tooling are critical to reacting to situations with aircraft on the ground.
One manner in which tooling may be created for manufacturing a low number of parts and/or design revisions may involve cutting a tool from a metal, such as aluminum. With this type of process, the tool may take around six to eight weeks. Currently, a new tool may be designed using a computer aided design (CAD) system. Once the design has been made, a file is created for use in making the tool. The file from the computer aided design system is entered into a numerical control program system that converts the file from a computer aided design system file into one for use by a numerical control machine. This numerical control machine system mills and/or cuts a block of steel or aluminum into the shape of a tool.
The numerical control program may be a computer that converts the computer aided design file into a format for use by the numerical control machine system. The output generated for the numerical control machine system takes the form of data or instructions for a program that tells the numerical control machine system how to remove material from a steel or aluminum block to create the tool. The numerical control machine system is a machine that automatically operates by commands from a processing unit. The processing unit in the numerical control machine system executes a program that identifies the different coordinates for the object to be created.
Converting the data in a computer aided design file for a tool into a form for use by a numerical control machine system may take from around 20 to around 60 hours of time. Further, creating the data for this type of tool also may be expensive and time consuming. In some cases, the creation of a tool, such as a die, may cost approximately $10,000 dollars, in addition to the time needed to create the data for the numerical control machine system.
If changes to the tools are needed, revising the computer aided design file creating the new program for the numerical control machine system may be required. These types of changes result in more time and expense being incurred in creating the tool for the part.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus that takes into account one or more of the issues discussed above, as well as possibly other issues.